Photos by Andre C. Choo Quan/Rae L.

Over 12 Hours of Reggae!

TJJ Team Black arrived at the Westchester County Center in White Plains around 3pm. For those of you who are not familiar with NYC, White Plains is a bit of a journey out to suburbia. We mean for real, a navigation system in your ride is a must! Convenient $4 Parking… unheard of for city dwellers! You know we're so used to paying the $30 that always hurt your heart and not to mention burn a hole in your pocket. The day already started off great!

Question, "How can you tell when there is a Caribbean event anywhere?" Follow your nose…. it always knows! Golden Krust had that place on lock. When we entered the building, the aroma of fine Jamaican cuisine filled the air. Ahem, there is a certain TJJ member who always eating, made a bee line straight for the food! But lawdee, eeef yuh see people on the line! While she haggled to get to the front of the line the crowd was being entertained by the old school stlyings of The Gladiators. "Ah me say one ting Nancy cyar undastan…. Bam Bam." Woooy!!! Wicked! We set up shop in our usual position… front and center to get our photos on, eat ah food and of course enjoy the show.

Photos by Andre C. Choo Quan/Rae L.
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After The Gladiators rounded things off around 3:45pm, Brigadier Jerry hit the stage and definitely let the Jamrock crowd know why he's "the roughest ting on two foot". He wrapped up his act with a freestyle in which he proclaimed to be the Original Ganja Farmer, and the crowd loved it.

While there was a quick band change, two very talented young ladies graced the stage. B. Smith sang a gospel ballad and Aliyah sang her version of Mary J. Blige's "Take Me As I Am" followed by a sweet little number she wrote herself. Heather Cummings, the hostess with the most, welcomed everyone to the show and introduced the New Kingston Band, a talented group of young fellas. We swear the keyboardist had the deepest voice, like ah big man. They performed their own track, "Eye On The Prize", before another young artist, Christopher, joined the band on stage to deliver a few hits of his own such as "Who's Holding Donna Now" and "She's Like The Wind".

Around 4:35pm, reggae veteran Courtney Melody came to the stage and jus mash up de place. His performance was short but sweet… straight maxi dub style with classics like "Ninja Me Ninja" and "Modern Girl".

At 4:45pm, Reggae comedians and artists, Twin Of Twins did what they do best… had people cracking up with their witty Jamaican humour, together with their serious fast chanting dancehall delivery. As they kept on saying, "Care to elaborate!"

Well it would not be a true Caribbean show without little intermissions and some comedy. Freddy Ricks, a well known comedian and actor had us rolling in the aisles with stories of his experiences visiting Jamaica for the first time! For a dude from the Bronx, he did a wicked 'bad man' Jamaican impression. Oh goooosh, all we eye running tears fuss he funny!!! LOL. Righto!

5:15pm. Time to big up sweet TnT! Reggae All Star Khari Kill ripped his tunes and had the crowd singing along to his popular song "Picture of Selassie". We're so proud! BTW, sniff sniff, spliff spliff….. we swear if you did not know the chief then, you would have become the best of friends after a few hours. Speaking of hours, lawd this show was reeeaaalll long. GREAT, BUT LONG! Just check out our timeline.

5:23pm, the Bomber…. Cutty Ranks! Now if you are a true dan dadda, then you know exactly what happened next! Tunes just started to fling left and right! "Stoppa", "Limb by Limb", "Rude Boy Number"! Hold your heads folks. Stay calm. The veteran even had to school the young boys from the New Kingston Band on how they must run his riddim. Encore!! Cutty mash up fine fine!

The crowd was growing larger and even more hyped. About 5:40pm, the ladies were screaming their heads off because Richie Stephens stepped on stage looking real swanky with his fabulous glasses and burgundy/black pinstriped blazer, crisp white shirt and stylish jeans. Hear nah man... that man got some pipes on him!!! "Who's the ship I'm in"… that alone nearly made a certain TJJ member faint, you know the one who loves to eat (lol). Oh geez, then he did some numbers like Beres Hammond's "Tempted To Touch", Garnett Silk's "Get On Up, Stand Up" and would you believe his encore was Dennis Brown's "Love and Hate." Whoo hooo!!!!

6:05pm now and Tarrus Riley performed a few songs from his latest album "Parables". During his performance, there was a little boy who was remarkably looking a lot like the baby ras waving the Lion of Judah flag. Too cute.

At 6:20pm, JA Radio (Hot 102 FM) personality Richie B took over hosting and re-introduced comedian Freddy Ricks to the stage. More jokes again!! All we ribs huttin!! Soon after, to the crowd's delight, Marcia Griffiths graced the stage and proceeded to liven them up with all of her hits including a mini tribute to the late, great Bob Marley. It was the first Hitalotathon® for the evening. "Fire burning….. burning…. burning…. fire burning…"

8:10pm. We enjoyed a few numbers from a new artist, Ky-Enie. Seated with his acoustic guitar, he gave a very soulful performance filled with positive messages. His album "Then, Now, After…" drops this summer, and you can check him out at www.myspace.com/kyenie.

8:30pm. FINALLY THE HERB COME AROUND! Collie Buddz backed by his selector Pee Wee, gave a solid performance. Now, being around the entertainment game for a minute now, we have learnt a few things. For one, if you're a relatively new artist on the scene, when you perform, don't try to give the audience a full repertoire of your act. JUST LET YOUR CHART TOPPERS RIP! Until you've become a seasoned veteran, most audiences ONLY want to hear your current hits, and this would explain when Collie Buddz finally got his forward at the end of his performance when he sang "Come Around". Heh, we all continue to learn as we grow right?

9:00pm. Well at this time we feeling like we at a Jamaican version of "Scouting for Talent", because after every great act, an amateur followed. We support showcasing new talent but oh gosh, not during prime time. David "Squeeze" Annakie (Linkup Media Inc. CEO) presented the Bustamante Children's Hospital in Jamaica with a million dollar monetary donation after a lil' friendly dance off between Squeeze and Pee Wee (Pretty Posse).

Okay people, action time. Shaggy and Ravon entered the stage and the women went wild! One minute we were surrounded by other photographers and the next…. real woman!!! Lawdee! "Girls in pum pum shorts ain't for free…" Big up Screechy Don for the yodelling. It was yet another Hitalotathon®!! The TJJ ladies love Shaggy, so just imagine the excitement. Tunes like "Bombastic", "Angel" and "Big Up" … we could go on and on like Shaggy did. Big up Shaggy!! And talk bout bling… DAMN! BTW, this is why ladies love Shaggy…he gave a full story explaining why Man=Stupid and Woman=Smart before mashing up the concert with popular hit "It Wasn't Me". Oooh goooosh… "Hey Sexy Lady"… (bass pumping through we chest) and 2006 "Church Heathen" rounded off his set. However, we were treated to an encore. Shaggy well buff up the crowd though, "Unno get up, this is not the @#$%^ Opera!" LOL! People jumped out of their seats and were jammin' once again.

The hosts changed again, this time Chad Royale took over. It's now 10:35pm. Remember we mentioned before to follow the time line. Freddy Ricks killed us once more with his hilarious antics before Movado aka Gansta for Life came on (together with his entourage at the back of the stage). More hits! "Anywaaaaay…..Wha dem ah do? Wha dem ah try?"

Phew.... 11:09pm. We in the place since 3pm and we still haven't seen Capleton, Buju Banton and Sanchez! Rass! Dance group Fresh Kidz had the nerve to come on again only to get booed off the stage. Pressure yes! Some of the acts in between the headliners were not entertaining the crowd but in fact, they were quite annoying.

Finally around 11:15pm, Richie B took over and introduced Gargamel. Buju was Gucci from head to toe and tore it up as usual. Mega hits delivered with great passion and intensity as usual. You name it he sang it, while sweat was literally flying! Buju fans that missed him at MSG back in May'07, were most ecstatic to see the dancehall star.

12:15pm and still more fillers. This time, eleven year old Janai Clark. But wait, shouldn't he be in his bed??!! We soon discovered that he has a sweet voice when he delivered his rendition of "Lady in Red." Raw talent.

Well a certain TJJ member almost jumped clean out of her skin like she won the lotto or something when Capleton finally came onstage complete with flags waving. It was totally high energy! It was 12:30am! MORE FYAH! MORE FYAH! Almost immediately… sniff sniff, spliff spliff… hee hee! Slew dem… who dem! Jah Jah City…Cowboy Town! More Fyah! Baby Don't Cry No More! Good Over Evil! And his outfit matching from head top to foot bottom. Then poof **smoke**, Capleton was gone, after we waited all day he did his thing for just 25 mins. :-(

Yes folks…. It's THE FINAL ACT! Popular singing group, Lust, which comprises Lukie D, Trilla U, Singing Melody and Tony Curtis opened for Sanchez and warmed the crowd up with hits like "Say What Lady", "Run Free" and "High Grade". We always enjoy hearing this group sing… some of the classics never crease to raise our pores. Rounding 1:30am, Sanchez came on to woo the ladies in the crowd. With 29 albums and over 70 singles to date in a career spanning over sixteen years, Sanchez joined the day's Hitalotathon® session. "Loneliness", "Brown Eyes", "Soon As I Get Home", "I'm Missing You", "Wherever I Lay My Hat", "One In A Million", "Never Dis The Man" and "Brown Eye Girl" to mention a few. He was dressed to the nine's in a mint and white suit complimented with plenty of blinding bling. Nuff props to another legend still doing his thing.

Although most patrons didn't hang around until the end of the show, you know TJJ did. Work on Monday…. It's all good! The things we do to ensure our viewers don't miss ah beat eh!! ;-) OVERALL, IT WAS A STAR-STUDDED EVENT THAT WAS 100% WORTH THE MONEY! Our only recommendation is to have better time/stage management for 2008. Let all the new and upcoming artists perform 1st, and when it gets down to the big acts, LET IT RAIN!

Link Up Media, thanks for hosting us. Definitely keep up the great work!

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Related Galleries/Videos
Jamrock Reggae Fest 2007 Pt. 1
Cutty Ranks Interview (Jamrock)